Developer: Ubisoft
Publisher: Ubisoft
Rrp: £6.99
Released: 30th November 2004
Available on Steam, and Gog.com
Prince of Persia: Warrior Within is the sequel to the Sands of Time featuring our titular hero. Its set after the events of the Sands of Time (what a shock) and is about the Prince desperately trying to alter his fate,which is to die at the hands of the Dahaka, a unstoppable beast that hunts down and ‘removes’ anyone who messes with the time line.
A greater emphasis has been placed on combat than in the previous title. The Prince now has a greater number of moves and combinations to perform against his enemies.
The Prince can now wield duel weapons which, depending on the weapon, slightly change the attacks the Prince can perform. These secondary weapons have a limited lifespan and are dropped by pretty much every enemy (and weapon racks that you can break). They can also be thrown to cause a bit of ranged damage. A slow motion kill cam has been implemented in combat which is actually quite gratifying to watch when you’ve just killed a particularly troublesome enemy, you can alter the frequency of it occurring within the options menu.
During combat both the Prince and the enemies you face have been given voices, so every so often you’ll hear a “Kill him!” from a sand creature or the Prince being angry and broody.
This ties into one of my larger laments for this game, much to my regret the charming and naive Prince of the previous title has been replaced by a annoyingly broody and somewhat tragic figure.
If it weren’t for the fact that I replayed the previous title recently I’d be tempted to think that I was comparing these two through rose tinted glasses. But I honestly do think this game is lacking when compared.
As with previous game drinking water (including sea water which I thought was poisonous) any lost health, if you drink at a fountain it will also allow you to save your game.
Something else that got passed over from the previous title is the ability to upgrade the amount of amount of life you have by finding hidden shrines. The game automatically gives you more sand tanks and moves as you progress so the increase in life is a reward for exploration.
If I had to list design flaw above all others in this game it would be the lack of a directional hint system. Sure it has a map but a map is pretty useless without a compass. A waypoint system would have been nice or a compass on the HUD.
If I had to name a second its the way that multiple functions are bound to a single button. Both block and the ‘run up the wall’ action are bound to the same button, this can make combat extremely frustrating because you’re telling the Prince to run up a wall and he just stands there and blocks.
Y’know what? There are too many flaws for me to actually point at one and say “that’s the worst” they all broke the immersion one way or another or were just plain irritating. The lip synching during the in game cut scenes is terrible but then that goes to match the atrocious dialog. I will say that the story itself has some clever moments that most people won’t see coming.
The camera is perhaps the greatest enemy in the game, there were so many times when the camera suddenly switched angles in the middle of a fight causing me to be unable to see the enemy or in some cases a ledge. It also has a nasty habit of changing just as you are jumping to avoid a trap which causes you to misjudge and accidentally fall in.
On that subject I found that the control pad settings weren’t set up at all even though this game was released on multiple platforms, so I had to manually bind each function myself.
And the last complaint I have (I promise) is the soundtrack, its great and all, I love a bit of metal as much as the next guy, probably more so, but…. it just doesn’t suit the aesthetic or setting of the game at all.
This leaves me with my final thoughts, and I have to say I can’t really recommend this game. Its just too broken and filled with inconsistencies. Honestly I could only recommend it if you can get it dirt cheap and if you absolutely must know what happened between the Sands of Time and Two Thrones (review incoming).
